How many times have Ohio residents wanted to take over the driving while riding as passengers? Probably quite a few have felt that way at one time or another. Perhaps the drivers of those vehicles failed to have the appropriate command of the vehicles they drove. After all, that is often the source of a more than a few car accidents, and passengers have no control over the vehicle or the driver’s actions.
When a driver loses control of a vehicle, the outcome can be devastating. Depending on the force of the impact, passengers and drivers alike can suffer serious or fatal injuries. An accident that the Ohio State Highway Patrol responded to on a recent Tuesday at around 1:30 a.m. appears to fall into this category.
Preliminary reports say that the 29-year-old driver lost control of the vehicle and it crashed. One passenger, a 20-year-old man, suffered fatal injuries in the impact. The driver and the other passenger survived, but suffered what were only called “incapacitating injuries” for which emergency responders transported them to a hospital in the area. As for the investigation, it remained ongoing at last report.
Depending on what police discover, the driver could potentially face criminal charges in connection with the crash. Even so, that does not mean that the family of the deceased passenger and the other injured passenger cannot move forward with wrongful death or personal injury claims, as appropriate. When it comes to claims arising out of car accidents, it is not necessary for the allegedly at fault party to face criminal charges in order to seek justice, restitution and closure through the civil court system.
